Don't Try Reading This
by Nomad Plume
Summary: Our favorite investigators are adults now, but the threats are still the same. They must stop the Midnight Sun and it's new leader from wrecking havoc by securing the device they're after. The only problem is, what exactly is the device and why are they after it?
1. Prologue: One Night in Italy

The air in Naples was cold, which was a little odd considering it was the middle of July. Maybe it was just Luca's imagination. It was also nighttime too; weather usually drops pretty low at night. He tried telling himself this as he walked on his way back to his simple apartment, but an irksome thought he couldn't avoid was telling him something else.

 _Someone's watching me._ Was his first thought as he took a left turn. He dismissed the thought, though, since he was used to that. Being the son of wealthy parents had occasional downsides and being held under a microscope by the media was almost something like getting a cup of coffee for Luca. Also not to mention _that thing_. Maybe it was _that thing_ again; pulling him back to see what was happening next.

 _Crunch!_

He turned his head, looking behind to see anything. Sure enough, someone _had_ been watching them; he caught sight of a black mass moving behind a corner. Irritated, Luca sputtered out a swear word at them before yelling back, "Don't any of you have the decency to go back to your house? It's too late at night!"

He turned and walked. Then he sped up when he felt the eyes on him again. He continued to cut corners until he finally found himself at the entrance of his apartment complex. Relief flooded through him. Then a sharp pain in his neck. Before he had the chance to see the needle injected into his neck, he felt himself fall to the ground, his vision going sideways. From there, he could see red heels clicking against the pavement and a soft lilt of a voice.

"Make sure he makes it out of here alive. I'd rather not want to deal with another mess you two caused."


	2. Chapter One: An Encounter With Owen

_"Make sure you're not going to drop that, Katie."_ Mr. Kondos-or _Dr._ Kondos as he liked to be called because of his varying PhDs in Archaeology, though most of the assistance dubbed him as _Dr. Know-it-All_ for his constant wiseacre remarks-quipped as he handed a passing assistant an almost intact vase. Beside him, another archaeologist shot him an irritated look.

 _"Her name is Cassandra, Arturo, and you know that. And she's also my assistant so don't talk to her like that."_ She replied sharply in a very obvious Italian accent through the Greek, giving her assistant an apologetic look. _"Cassandra, just set it at the table and_ Mr. Kondos _can take care of that himself. After that, just check the rest of the artifacts we brought in from Naples. There should be a a paper on the table when you're there."_

The Greek professor glared at Dr. Gurrera, though she didn't seem phased by it one bit. Cass, still holding the ceramic, carefully placed it on the table before snatching the clipboard beside it and writing a quick notation on it. As she shuffled closer to the boxes labeled in big letters **NATIONAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM, NAPLES** , she heard a faint _click!_ followed by a _churr_.

Turning her head, she gave her excavation partner a slightly alarmed look. "Meeks, you'll get that thing confiscated." She whispered harshly.

Meeks only held her hand out expectantly under the Polaroid, waiting for the film to come out while giving Cass a big grin. "We do this all the time back in Italy, though. And Dr. G said it was alright!"

Cass rolled her eyes. "Well we're not in Italy. Not to mention that Mr. Kondos is already getting a little testy with us after you confused him as a custodian." She informed. Meeks's face twisted into an ugly grimace-except it wasn't exactly ugly. Meeks is, in society's standards, quite beautiful. Cass didn't know how many times she would turn her head to see half of the male assistants (and maybe a few of the female also) gaping at her. If Meeks noticed it then she made a good show that she wasn't bothered by it, even smiling at a few who stood nearby.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." She'd say or something else all the more cheeky and blush inducing.

Meeks was anything but, well, _meek_. She never seemed to shy away from anything and practically exuded confidence along with a brush of stupidity. Not in an intellectual sense, no, she wouldn't be an assistant archaeologist if she was intellectually challenged. Her mannerisms were quite childish and had the habit of teasing Cass when she found the opportunity, specifically when she managed to make her compeer's elfish ears turn a bright shade of red ("Did I embarrass you?" Meeks would usually ask, but would only receive a quick slap on the arm afterward).

"It's not my fault he was leaning beside a mop _and_ wears those ridiculous jumpsuits." Both women craned their necks to look at the Greek man's poor choice of clothes-a mix between a tracksuit and tuxedo, which seemed a few sizes too big on him to boot. Cass shared a disgusted look with Meeks (their two and a half years working in Naples had given the two a sort of fashion enlightenment) before she began checking through the items once more.

The boxes, as you can assume, were from Dr. Gurrera's recent excavation back in Italy. Multiple vases from Greek (or Hellene, as they're properly called) potters had been found in the outskirts of a village beside Pompeii. The National Archaeological Museum of Athens had been contacted to create a sort of trade-off; apparently the excavation group in Greece had discovered a few pieces of jewelry that had been imported from Italy.

Cass, Meeks, and a few selected assistants were chosen to fly to Athens to make sure the artifacts were taken care of and see to that they were transferred off properly. Though seemed to be an easy task, it was quite difficult due to the boxes being similar and were placed on the tables at random. Cass and Meeks had to constantly ask fellow colleagues if they knew where X Box filled with Y Item had been. It didn't help much either when Mr. Kondos would glare at them whenever they had to call to someone across the room to ask.

"Why does he always have to look at us like we're germs?" Cass whispered to Meeks as she leaned over to look into the box in front of them. She cast a side glance his way, only to be startled that he was already glaring at her, swinging a pencil in his hand wildly. Cass quickly looked back down, ears tingling red from embarrassment of being caught.

Meeks shrugged. "Maybe he thinks we _are_ germs." This time, she looked up, staring Mr. Kondos straight in the eye before seeing something catch her eye, eyebrow raised, then jabbed her partner in the arm, saying, "Cass, write down what I'm gonna spell out."

"What-" Cass questioned, but was interrupted by Meeks.

"T-S-M." Meeks said, glaring at something from a distance. "2200. E-X-A-C-T-O."

Cass held up the clipboard between the both of them, turning away from the crowd to read the encrypted code. Years of constant decoding made the code a no brainer. "Terces Society meeting. 10 PM, exact. O." She said quietly to Meeks. "How did you know?"

"Because the only person who knows that Swing Code was Owen." Meeks replied, hiding another grin as she looked at Mr. Kondas, who only gave a nasty glare in return. "We shouldn't have overlooked at the fact that the actual archaeologist Dr. Gurrera was organizing with had suddenly gone on another assignment in Peru right before we came."

Realization dawned on Cass. That would explain why most of the assistants had found him unbearable along with why Dr. Gurrera seemed annoyed with him. She was practically elated to meet the brilliant archaeologist who was willing to do a trade-off and was disappointed to end up meeting her unkempt, snobby replacement.

"How much do you wanna bet he just ran out of time to get a proper outfit and had to go with an asshat of a role?" Meeks asked in heavy amusement.

Cass shrugged. "No clue. Now the bigger question is, how are we even going to get into the meeting? Did he give any location?"

Meeks thought for a minute. Then she frowned. "No, I don't think so. He swung the message three times exactly and I don't remember him adding anything else. Maybe we can catch him when he's alone...?"

Cass nodded, though she was still a little doubtful. Owen wasn't one to make too many mistakes, especially when it came to sending out messages. "I guess-"

" _Catherine was it?_ " Dr. Know-it-All-er, _Owen_ -brittled out. " _Like I said, you might want to be careful with that_ _ **vase**_ _. It's dangerous to just leave it on that table."_ He gave an all too obvious look toward the ceramic he handed to Cass.

Dr. Gurrera, now twice as irritated, stomped on her way toward him. " _Arturo, what did I tell you about bossing my assistants around?_ "

"It's alright, Doc. I think Cass placed it in the wrong spot anyways." Meeks said. Carefully, she turned the vase over. Only Cass saw that Meeks changed the filed paper beside it. "Yeah, see? It's labeled from the village near Herculaneum, not Pompeii. We'll find the right spot for it."

She and Cass quickly moved to the farther end of the table, where it was busy enough to make sure no one saw them take out a paper that carried a username and password for a video calling account. The two shared a knowing smile. They're needed for another mission.


End file.
